There are too many TV recap sites that are way better at what they do, so I'm not going to.
These are merely my thoughts and comments about what I've seen and heard - too long for tweets or FB statuses, but probably too short for decent length blog posts.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2015

(I have no idea why some of the guest hosts are doing this in New York, on Charlie Rose's set during the so-called blizzard where guests can't be that easy to book...)

Regis Philbin (Jan 26 - 27): Classy and high calibre guests (don't know how he got Annie Lennox), but a bit of a snore for me.

Whitney Cummings (Jan 28 - 29): Awkward, but could be worse. Still not a fan of the braless co-host. But hilarious that Alan Cumming came on the show and they discussed their last names for a bit.

Adam Pally (Jan 30): Don't know why he said yes and thought getting a tattoo for the show was a good idea. Luckily it's just for one show. But didn't mind that he had Howard Stern's wife on.

After the week in New York, back in LA...

Sean Hayes (Feb 2 - 3): Gone all out, knowing he's only doing two shows as I don't think he can keep up the musical numbers any longer. His USB idea - the bowl of talking points for awkward silences - is hilarious.

John Mayer (Feb 4 - 6): Not a fan of the guy personally, but I thought he did an okay job. Getting the Super Bowl sharks as his first guests is not a bad get, but I can't imagine it wasn't THAT hard for him. I wasn't the only one disappointed that they didn't dance on the show..

First major late night TV bombshell of 2015: Jon Stewart announcing his departure from The Daily Show later in the year. No specific date yet, but let's just say he won't be renewing his contract this year when his current one runs out.

Ever since last year's late night TV shake up, I had been wondering if JStew was ever gonna step down: Dude's been at it for almost 20 years, he's aging before our (collective) eyes... and I've been failing miserably to stay awake through it. Makes for great insomnia cure :P He also doesn't seem to have a lot of time for anything else, it seems like.

I can't say I'm surprised to hear this piece of news as I have been expecting something like this to happen since last year. It's a little sad, but it's time. That, and when Dr Bassem Youssef was on Monday's show (as the Middle East contributor), I did have that niggle... well okay, it's because the good doctor has taken up a fellowship post stateside, and not to take over the show... I think.

The Daily Show under his helm has been a massive platform for his former correspondents (Carrell, Colbert, Oliver, et al), enabling them to move on to bigger and better things: movie careers, TV careers, etc. So why not him? Maybe he wants to slow down, make more movies. Whatever.

And of course, so many questions as to what happens next...

Does this mean that any of his current stable of correspondents are gonna take over the show? Same direction, different direction?

JStew's production company is still running both The Daily Show and The Nightly Show. Does this mean that he'll just be running things behind the camera instead?

For a split second there, I thought Bassem Youssef was gonna take over... then I remembered he's doing a resident fellowship stint at Harvard. Don't think he's got the time.

I don't know if Jason Jones is right to take over the reins...?

I suppose this means that other shows might have a better chance of winning the Emmy that The Daily Show has been winning for at least a decade now.